Wire fence or grille fabric



July 841931. vA; A. G. LAND 1,816,381

Y WIRE FENCE-0R GRILLE FABRIC Filed Nov. 7, i928 ssheets-sheet v1 i July28, 1931. l lA VA.. G. LAND WIRE FENCE 0R GRILLE FABRIC 5 Sheets-sheet 2Filed Nov. 7, 1928 July 28, 1931. A. A. G. LAND 1,816,381

WIRE FENCE OR GRILLE FABRIC Filed Nov. 7, 1928 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 PatentedJuly 28, 1931 'UNITED STATES ARTHUR A. G. LAND, or CHICAGO, ILLINOISyvwird: renee 'on Gaitan FABRIC Application led. November My inventionrelates to interwoven wire fabrics of the class commonly used for wirefences, grilles, base-ball back-stops and the like, namely so calledvchain link wire fabrics made by consecutively twisting (or weaving intoeach other' wire spirals which are flattened. Such chain link wirefabrics have long been made 06f strands formed by winding a wire-spirally around a flat mandrel, so that the major` portion of eachstrand consists of consecutively diverging wire portions-,whichcooperate in the' adjacent strands'of the interwoven fabric to formsquaqreorY diamond-shaped meshes.

In such fabrics, the size of the substantially square or diamondeshapedmesh suited for any given purpose usually depends on the size of theobjectswhieh the wire fence or the like is to exclude. For example, fora fence around a tennis court, the mesh must be sufficiently small so'that, a standard sized tennis ball is larger in diameter than thevdiameter of the circle which can be Ainscribed within the mesh of thefence.- In

practice, this determining factor makes it necessary vto use a muchsmaller mesh for the fencing Ythan is'y re uired for resisting theystrains which the ence has Yto stand; consequently, such wire fencingas now in common usenet only requires a much larger number ofconstituent strands in proportionV to its surface area than would beneeded for its strain-resistin l strength', but also `involves acorresponc ing increase the cost of interweaving the strands and in thetransportation expenses. l,

My present invention aims to yprovide chain link wire fabrics for fencesor the like which will accomplish the same objectexcluding ypurposeswith fewer wire strands employed vfor the same surface area; and whichwilll reduce both the total yweight of wire required'for a given fenceor the like, the cost of interweaving the needed strands', and thetransportation costs.V

Furthermore, my inventionaims to pro' vide such reductions in cost byemploying preformed wires which will also give an ornamental appearancete the resulting fence, grille or the like; which will readily 7.1928.`serial No. 317,841.

permit wide variations of the resulting ornamental 'effect' so' that thellatter can harmonize `with the architecture or design of adjacentbuildings and with the taste of the user; Aand which will increase theresistancey of the resulting fence or the like to'trans-l versestrains.

Still further objects of my invention will appear from the followingspecification and from the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is 'anelevation vof a fragment of a wire fabric embodying my invention andbased on a square mesh arran1gement,`with a dotted line showing theperiphery of the largest ball which would pass through this wire fabric,and with a lower dotted portion showing the larger Asized ball whichwould pass through an ordinary chain wire fence of the same mesh-cornerspacing.

Fig. 2 is `a contrasting fragmentary elevationof a wire fabric of theusual interi woven type, showing the smaller size of mesh andtheincreased strands which would be required in an ordinary chain link wirefence to exclude the size of ball indicated in the upper portion ofFig. 1. s

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary elevation of a wire fabric, showing anothershaping of the preformed bends in the constituent strands, also havingthe interlocking por-4 tions of adjacent strands arranged at the cornersof imaginary squares.

Figs. 4', y5, 6 and 7 are fragmentary elevations of wire fabrics showingother arrangements o'f the auxiliary kinks or bends in the constituentwire strands,- and each arranged 'numbery of wire so that theinterlinking points of the strands form the corners of diamond-shapedfigures. 1 Fig. 8 is an enlarged horizontal section taken along the line8-8 of Fig. 1.to show the general planes in which each `two adjacentmesh legs of a strand are disposed. y

Fig. 9 is `a section similar to the mainV portionof Fig. 8, showing'anotherl formation of my interwoven strands-namely one in which themesh legs of allv of the strands have their axes in a' common plane.Fig. 10 shows a fragment 'of a chain llnk type of wire fabric in whichevery alternate( leg of each strand has a single bend bowed toward thelongitudinal axis of the strand.

Fig. l1 shows a fragment of a chain link type of wire fabric in whichevery alternate leg of each strand has a single bend bowed toward thelongitudinal axis of the strand, and in which each intervening leg ofeach strand has a single bend bowed away from the longitudinal axis ofthe strand.

Fig. 12 shows a fragmentary elevation 0f a fabric in which the alternatestrands are duplicates of each other to their formations, and in whichevery leg of each strand has a bend bowed in the samedirection laterallyof the fabric.

Fig. 13 shows a fragment of a fabric composed of ordinary chain linkstrands alternating Vwith strands embodying my inventon.

Generally speaking, I accomplish the objects of my invention byutilizing three Vunderlying principles:

One is the fact that in any fabric or structure having meshes, theproviding of the legs (or sides) of each mesh with bends extending intoa mesh will reduce the objectexcluding size of the mesh. A second is thefact that suitably formed bends in such mesh legs stiffen the latter, sothat a given rigidity and strength can be secured with a smallerdiameter of wire for the strands y than is needed when the mesh legs arestraight as in the now customary constructions.

The third is the fact that the .auxiliary bends or kinks (which employfor the purpose of reducing the effective objectexcluding size of themesh and for permitting the use of lighter wire strands) can readily beso formed and arranged as to make the resulting fence or the likedecidedly ornamental in appearance.

Illustrative of my novel fabric, Figs. l and 3 show fragmentaryelevations of two wirev fabrics each formed of consecutively interwovenwire strands extending in a generally upright direction. Each such wirestrand is preformed into a flattened spiral in which the consecutivehalf-turns diverge in agcneral direction at right angles to cach other,so that the bights in the interwoven wire strands are disposed at thecorners of imaginary squares having one diagonal vertical.

If each half-turn of each such flattened spiral were straight whenviewed in elevation, the resulting square mesh would be substantially asindicated by the dotted lines A at the lower end of Fig. l, so that aball of the periphery shown atB Ywould still pass through thev mesh.

To make a fabric based on the same spacing of the interlocking bightsexclude a considerably smaller ball, I provide each half turn of thepreformed (flattened spiral) wire strand with auxiliary bends or kinks land 2 which extend in the same general vertical plane with the half turnportions 3 and t adjacent to the bights connected by that half turn, butwhich bends l and 2 project beyond the general direction of the portions3 and 4 in respectively opposite directions. lVith counterpart auxiliarybends or kinks thus provided in every half turn of the preformed wirestrands, and with the laterally consecutive strands laterally reversed(after the usual manner) when interwoven, the bends l are re-entrant forone vertically alined row of the resulting meshes, as shown in theleft-hand portion of Fig. l.

However, these bands l project inward of the imaginary square A whichconnects the corners of the adjacent vertical row of meshes. On theother hand, the bends 2 which project outwardly of the said imaginarysquare in the left-hand row of Fig. l extend inwardly of thecorresponding imaginary squares in the adjacent vertical row of meshes,as shown for example at 2A.

Consequently, the maximum periphery of a ball which would pass throughthe meshes of such a fabric would be that shown in dottedilines at C, ora ball much smaller in diameter than the ball B in the same figure. Toproduce an exclusion of equal effective size of that of the fabric ofFig. l with the ordinary chain link type of fabric in which the halfturns of the spiral strand are straight, the length of the half turnswould haveV to be reduced as shown in Fig. 2, thereby correspondinglyreducing the diagonals of the imaginary mesh squares and requiring amuchgreaterrnumber of the interwoven wire strands per lineal foot of thefabric.

Comparing Figs. l and 2, it will be noted that the fabric of Fig. lrequires a somewhat greater length of wire for each constituent strandthan that of Fig. 2, but the number of such strands required for a givenlength and height of fabric is so much less for my Fig. l type than forthe ordinary type of Fig. 2 that the total wire required is still lessfor my novel type than for the older type of Fig. 2.

Moreover, since the cost of the intertwisting (or soealledinteiwveaving) of the consecutive strands depends on the number ofstrands employed, this important item of cost is considerably less formy novel type of Fig. l than for the corresponding older type of Fig. 2.Since the auxiliary bends in the wire strands of Figl all are disposedapproximately in the general plane of the fabric, these bends alsoincrease the resistance of the fabric to strains in directionstransverse of that planeas for example, to the impact of a ball drivenagainst the fabric at right angles tothe said plane. Conthemanufacturer. For example, the major portions of two successivehalf-turns of thek spiral may respectively have their axes in two planesparallel to, but at opposite sides of, the medial plane of the fabric,namely the plane 13 which extends through the middle points of all ofthe bights, as shown in Fig. 8. Or, the major portions of all halfturns(or mesh legs) may all have their axes in the said medial plane 13 ofthe fabric, if each strand is formed to include bight loops 14 as shownin Fig. 9. In either case, every strand can readily be interwoven withthe next preceding one by inserting it endwise of the latter with aspiral advancing movement.

Furthermore, I do not wish to be limited to the providing of the use ofbends which make each leg of the strand a counterpart of other legs, noreven to the providing ofl bends on every leg of the strand, las myinvention may be employed in a wide variety of ways without departingfrom its spirit.

For example, Fig. 10 shows a portion of a chain-link Wire fabric inwhich the alternate half-turns of each spiral strand (or alternate legsof each strand) present substantially straight mesh sides, while eachintervening leg of the strand has a single bent portion formed in it,these bent portions being similarly directed in the said interveninglegs of a strand. Each ofthe resulting meshes then has only a singlereentrant wire portion, but even this considerably reduces the size ofan object which would still pass through the mesh, as shown for a ballby the dotted circle K.

In the fabric of Fig. 11, each composite strand has a single bentportion in every leg thereof, but these bent portions 15 and 16 areoppositely directed in consecutive legs, so as toextend respectivelyinto two adjacent meshes.

In the fabric of Fig. 12, every leg of each composite strand has asingle bent portion and these bent portions all extend in the samedirection transversely of the length of the strand. In this case, thealternate strands 17 are of counterparts of each other, but theintervening Vstrands 18 have their bent portions directed oppositelyfrom those in the said alternate strands.

In each of the heretofore describedy embodiments, it will be noted thateach bent portion in a given strand is bowed (and projects from thegeneral-direction inpwhich the strand leg extends) toward an imagin-rary edge line M extending along the bights at one side edge of thestrand.Y Moreover,

since 'the departure of each bent portion from the general plane of thewire fabric is quite small in proportion ,to the klength. of the strandlegs Aor mesh sides, these bent portions may extend approximately in thegeneral plane of the wire fabric.

However, while I have heretofore described fabrics composed entirely ofwire strands preformed according to my invention, the general purposesof my invention can also be accomplished by using such preformed wiresonly for half of the strands, and alternating these with ordinarychainlink wire strands in which the half-turns or legs have nomesh-size-reducing bent portions. For example, Fig. 13 shows both theeffective reduction in the size of mesh and the ornamental appearanceproduced by using ordinary chain-link wire strands 19 with interposedstrands 20 which were preformed according to my invention.

So also, while I have heretofore described my invention as employed in awire fabric designed for halting and excluding balls Ido not wish to belimited to the purposes for which my interwoven fabric may be employed.For example, the same auxiliary bends or kinks, which reduce theeffective size of my meshes in proportion to their interlinkeddimensions, also reduce the foothold which a prospective trespasser canget on my fabric, so that my wire fabric is quite generally suitable foruse as a more economical substitute for older types of wire fences,grilles, or the like. It is likewise adapted for window-guards,doorguards, and wire screens of various kinds.

In the claims, it is to be understood that the term mesh side is used todesignate the entire portion of a single strand which is interposedbetween any two consecutive bights of the strand; and that the termbight is used to designate the bends of adjacent strands which areinterlocked in the assembled fabric.

I claim as my invention:

1. A chain-link wire fabric comprising preformed zigzag strandsconsecutively inter-twisted so that each two consecutive strandsborder arow of four-sided meshes; one of every two consecutive strands beingcontinuously spiraled in the same direction, and being formed so thatone side of each mesh which is partly bordered by the said strand isbentto present two oppositely directed bends connected byv a strandportion crossing a straight line connecting the ends of that mesh side,one of the said bends proleg.

distance between the center of that mesh and the said mesh side inproportion to the distance between the same mesh center and an imaginarystraight lmesh side connecting the ends of that mesh side.

3. A chain-link wire fabric comprising consecutively intertwisted zigzagstrands forming rows of four-sided meshes, each strand beingcontinuously spiraled Ain the same direction, every two adjacent rows ofmeshes having two sides of each mesh formed by a single strand, the saidsingle strand having in single mesh-side-forming parts thereof two bendsbowed respectively into meshes of the two adjacent rows, the extent ofthe bowing being such that the bends materially reduce the maximum sizeof objects which can pass through the meshes into which the said bendsare bowed.

4. A chain-link type of wire fabric comprising zigzagged strands eachcontinuously spiraled in the same direction, each two consecutivestrands being spirally intertwined to border a row of four-sided meshesin which meshes two consecutive mesh sides are formed by one strand, oneof two consecutive strands being provided with bends bowed for aconsiderable distance toward the next strand to reduce the efectiveopenings of meshes formed by the said two consecutive strands.

5. As a constituent for a fabric composed of consecutively intertwinedstrands, a zigzag strand continuously spiraled in one direction, andpresenting consecutively diverging legs when viewed in front elevation,one of every two consecutive legs having a portion thereof formed toafford abend bowed for a considerable distance toward the other leg.

6. As a constituent for a fabric composed of consecutively intertwinedstrands, a zigzag strand continuously spiraled in one direction, andpresenting consecutively diverging legs when viewed in front elevation,at least a portion of the strand having in one of every two consecutivelegs thereof two portions formed to afford two bends lying approximatelyin the general plane of the strand and bowed for considerable distancesrespectively toward and away from the other 7. As a constituent for afabric composed of consecutively intertwined strands, a zigzag strandcontinuously spiraled in one direction, and presenting consecutivelydiverging legs when viewed in front elevation, one

of every two consecutive legs in at least a portion of the strand havinga portion thereof formed to afford a bend bowed for a considerabledistance toward the other leg, each two consecutive legs being disposedfor substantially their entire length respectively forward and rearwardof the general plane of the strand.

ARTHUR A. G. LAND.

